Alan C. Posted February 22, 2013 Posted February 22, 2013 Veterans suffer 'moral injury' from warfare A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, former Marine Capt. Timothy Kudo thinks of himself as a killer — and he carries the guilt every day. "I can't forgive myself," he says. "And the people who can forgive me are dead." With American troops at war for more than a decade, there's been an unprecedented number of studies into war zone psychology and an evolving understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder. Clinicians suspect some troops are suffering from what they call "moral injuries" — wounds from having done something, or failed to stop something, that violates their moral code. Though there may be some overlap in symptoms, moral injuries aren't what most people think of as PTSD, the nightmares and flashbacks of terrifying, life-threatening combat events. A moral injury tortures the conscience; symptoms include deep shame, guilt and rage. It's not a medical problem, and it's unclear how to treat it, says retired Col. Elspeth Ritchie, former psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general. "The concept ... is more an existentialist one," she says. The Marines, who prefer to call moral injuries "inner conflict," started a few years ago teaching unit leaders to identify the problem. And the Defense Department has approved funding for a study among Marines at California's Camp Pendleton to test a therapy that doctors hope will ease guilt. But a solution could be a long time off. "PTSD is a complex issue," says Navy Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Pentagon spokeswoman. Killing in war is the issue for some troops who believe they have a moral injury, but Ritchie says it also can come from a range of experiences, such as guarding prisoners or watching Iraqis kill Iraqis as they did during the sectarian violence in 2006-07. "You may not have actually done something wrong by the law of war, but by your own humanity you feel that it's wrong," says Ritchie, now chief clinical officer at the District of Columbia's Department of Mental Health.
Brandon Buck _BB_ Posted February 22, 2013 Posted February 22, 2013 Wow. That article is so riddled with euphemisms it's almost illegible. And the hell of it is that of everything they talk about, they never, ever so much as even elude to the possibility that it might not be such a good idea to go around having children murder children to glorify the sick, paranoid fantasies of sadistic psychopaths. They're poison containers, these kids. No one really gives two shits about them. They're sent overseas to commit moral attrocities that the most demented among us would struggle with and when they come home broken and unable to function, they're stuck in a fucking yoga class or given an art tablet to scribble on. And that's called therapy. Enough said... sorry for the rant.
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